N.J. mayors express concerns after Trump threatens to halt funding to sanctuary cities
The president's decision could impact sanctuary cities across the state.
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President Donald Trump's announcement that he plans to cut off resources to sanctuary cities and the states that resist his immigration policies could impact some New Jersey municipalities.
Trump says funding to these cities and states will be terminated effective Feb. 1. New Jersey is home to multiple sanctuary cities, including Paterson, Trenton and Newark. A reduction or removal of funding could hit hard and have far-reaching impacts on communities, officials said.
In a speech Tuesday at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said the cuts would be "significant."
"Starting Feb. 1, we're not making any payments to sanctuary cities or states having sanctuary cities because they do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of American citizens and it breeds fraud and crime and all of the other problems that come," Trump said. "So we're not making any payments to anybody that supports sanctuary cities."
Two previous efforts by the president to cut off federal funding for sanctuary cities were shut down by the courts.
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh and Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora spoke with News 12 this morning, expressing their concerns that withholding federal funding will have negative impacts on their cities.
